Isolation
by KAZ 80Q3
Summary: Ever since the Civil War, there had been a rift between Tony and the rest of the Avengers. However, when Tony gets taken by Hydra they have to face the consequences of their actions. *This story is being rewritten*
1. Chapter 1

The accords had actually worked and the world was excepting everything that had happened. Stark had successfully made the accords safe, Ross was thrown in prison and Stark had succeed in securing pardons for the rogue Avengers including Barnes who he had also offered the BARF technology to, which resulted in Rodgers saying

"It's the least you could do after you tried to kill him" which made Tony's blood boil but he ignored it. Unfortunately the rogues hated Stark so they ignored the fact Tony had done all of that for them and carried on blaming him for everything; such as

"Its your fault I left my family" (it was your choice)

"It's your fault I was put in the raft" (you killed people and didn't listen to me when I tried to help you by keeping you in the compound)

"It's your fault the Avengers were torn apart" (I was trying to help).

So all the Avengers signed the accords. Scott, however, went home to his daughter. So the Avengers consisted of Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Clint, Sam, Wanda, Rhodes and Tony. Vision didn't want to harm others after the airport bacause he blamed himself for Rhodes' incident (while Tony blamed himself), instead he stayed at the compound and rekindled his relationship with Wanda.

After the so called 'civil' war Bruce and Thor came back from their space adventure and sided with the rogues, agreeing that Tony was at fault. Bruce agreed because he had a rough history with Ross and Thor thought if ALL the Avengers were against Tony then he had to be wrong. Everything had been going smoothly, the Avengers basically ignoring Tony outside of fights and Tony staying in his workshop, hiding from the glares and sneers of his so called 'team'. Until an incident snapped the small thread of tolerance they had for Tony.

It had been a routine fight, the UN had asked them to take care of more Doom bots that Doctor Doom had unleashed upon Manhattan, they had all geared up had headed there. So there really should be no reason for the taught silence that was suffocating the debrief room, except their was. Tony had disobeyed orders, causing members of his team to get hurt. Rogers was levelling him with the famous 'Captain America is disappointed by you' expression, and Fury had been rotating between glaring at him and ignoring him, even Coulson (who was alive. Surprise, surprise) was sitting in silence. His cold gaze and emotionless face were putting Tony on edge more then anything the others could throw at him, he was used too their hatred and disappointed stares, but with Coulson it really told him how much he had fucked up.

In his defence he wasn't really in a good postion to even be fighting, not that they would listen and let not fight. The week before he had lost all his friends. Both Pepper and Happy resigned saying it was too stressful and that Tony had changed and wasn't the man they once knew (he had to agree with them). Then a day later he got a phone call from Colonel Rhodes (not Rhodey. He didn't deserve to call him that) saying that after everything they had been through together this was too much and Rhodes couldn't take it any more. The longer the conversation went, on the more Tonys heart shattered. A decade old friendship finally broke when Rhodes said, "This is your fault. All of it. It's your fault I will never walk again" and he hung up leaving Tony sobbing to himself as he looked at the blue prints for Rhodes' leg braces. All that Tony had left was Friday. It was almost to much to handle so he did what he did best. He ignored his own feelings and built stuff.

Realising he had zoned out, Tony only caught the last part of Fury's debrief, "Lastly there was a total of $100k of damage thanks to one idiot" Fury glared at Tony, "Captain is there anything you would like to add?" Steve nodded and stood up facing his team,

"Because of the recklessness of one of our members Bucky and Wanda are out of commission for three weeks and Clint and Nat' are benched for a week this is the third time that Ironman has ignored direct orders Last week we gave him a warning and this is the last straw. Ironman is off the team until further notice" there were a few nods in the room, agreeing with Rodgers. Tony just smiled sadly.

"Is something funny, Stark?" Demanded Fury with a hard voice, Tony looked around the room and was met with stony eyes and glares. Silence filled the room. "We were never a team" Tony said before he stood up and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

New York 4am

It had been nearly a year since anyone had seen Tony Stark. The Avengers thought Tony had run of crying since he wasn't an Avenger anymore and had told Friday to not speak to them because they hadn't heard from her in just as long. But it wasn't until 11 months 3 weeks 2 days and 13 hours that they were clued in on where Tony actually was. But whos counting, right?

"This better be good if we're being woken up at 4 am" grumbled Clint. All the Avengers where in various degrees of exhaustion, they had had a massive battle yesterday which had failed spectacularly (nearly every battle had failed since the disappearance of Iron man) and they were all still banged up and tired from. However they all woke up slightly when Fury and Coulson walked in concerned. When something visibly concerned the two super spies it meant that it was really, really bad.

"What's happened, Sir?" asked Nat, Fury looked grim.

"Hydra" everyone stiffened "we resently found a new base in Afghanistan, right in the middle of the desert"

"Then we need to go and destroy it" said Steve casting a look at Bucky. Coulson gave him an unimpressed glace before continuing on from where Fury stopped,

"That's just it. It was destroyed half an hour ago. By one of their captives no less"

"If it's destroyed why do we have to know about it," yawned Bruce. Fury paused, seemingly lost for words, that meant this was very bad.

"We have photographic evidence that that the captive in question is Stark."

Afghanistan 12:30 pm

It had been nearly an hour since Tomy had managed to blow up the Hydra base and escaped. Since then he had been wandering the desert, coming to terms with the fact he will probably die, especially considering the fact it was freezing and the state he was in. Tony's right arm and wrist were completly broken. His left arm was curled protectively over his chest where a prototype arc reactor had been jammed by some hydra goons. On top of that, during the explosion a large piece of debris had smashed him across the head nearly knocking him unconscious. Also Tony knew that Hydra hadn't just been physical, that had also tortured him psychologically has the only things he remembered in great detail were the past few months he had been held captive. All his other memories were distant, as if he was looking at them through muddy water. A noise from over head snapped him out of his thoughts. A jet was flying through the sky at a great speed, it hovered for a moment before coming to rest on the ground. Two men jumped out, a third close behind. Tony didn't move. He knew that he knew these people but again, it was like the memorise where just out of reach. However, looking at them, all he felt was betrayal and pain meaning they had done something bad to him. They definitely weren't as he could remember every hydra soldier who had been at that base and also none of them wore the symbol. All of his instincts were telling him to run, but he was exhausted and in agony. He kept his face blank and eyes guarded, a skill he had perfected during his time at Hydra. They had always hated it how he never showed the pain he was in. Tony just waited and excepted his fate.

When Rodgers looked out of the helicopters window and saw the small figure of Tony Stark, he couldn't help but feel relief. As soon as Fury had broken the news that Tony had been taken by Hydra they had all pushed away the negetive emotions they had for him, no matter what they felt for he they had never wanted him to be tortured by Hydra. So they had all jumped into action. Friday had managed to track Tony to a desert in Afghanistan. Rhodey looked sick when he heard that Tony was in Afghanistan. The first person out of the jet was Rhodey. He may have ended his friendship his friendship withTony but he couldn't help that is intinct took over seeing his once best friend standing injured in the same desert Rhodey had resuced him from in 2008. Steve was close behind him and they headed straight for Tony who was just standing there with a blank expression and distrust in his eyes, he resembled Bucky when he was still Hydra's puppet too much for Steve's liking. Just before they reached Tony his legs gave out and he sat heavily on the sand, clearly battling for consciousness. Rhodey reached him first and pulled him into a hug. Tony flinched away at first but seemed to tired to pull away so he leant into the embrace. Rhodey then pulled Tony up by his unbroken arm and placed it over his shoulder so he could help get Tony to the jet. Steve hovered on the other side but Tony leaned as far away as possible from him. They never imagined that their actions could have harmed Tony so much.


	3. Chapter 3

After spending half an hour in the jet with these people, Tony was slowly managing to grasp at some memories that had been so distant. The more he remembered the more he felt unsafe and scared being here with them. The memories we're less images and more impressions and feelings that were triggered by certain actions or movements by his rescuers (though he used the term lightly as he didn't feel safe with them).

For example, when the giant blond man towered over him, all Tony could think about was the phantom pain he felt around his neck that only furthered to stress him out. Had one of the people who had rescued him tried to strangle him? Why would they rescue him if they had caused harm to his person before? Tony sighed. That was wasn't the point. what the point was, was that just being in the vicinity of these people was triggering painful emotions and feelings. Add that on top of the trauma he had experienced by Hydra's hand, and the situation wasn't ideal.

The jet shuddered then came to a stop. Tony turned toward the window. He looked out to see a huge compound, he frowned slightly. He definitely knew this place too, but before he could think about it in more depth, he felt a pinch in the back of his neck and he fell into unconsciousness.

Tony came to abruptly. He opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't recognise this room but considering all of the medical equipment it was most likely a hospital of some sort. The room itself was quite bland, but there was something oddly familiar about it. Not in just the decoration and instruments, but in also the layout, the design. Tony felt like he could pull it apart and put it all back together again, exactly like the bits and bobs he had constructed during his captivity. Thinking of captivity, he had no idea what he was supposed to do about his rescuers (although it felt like he went from one prison to another).

While he was musing about his new situation, the door too his room opened and two of the men he met yesterday (There was no clock in the room, so Tony had no idea how long he had been here and what his rescuers had been doing) as well as another man that he hadn't met yet (or maybe he had but he didn't remember). Tony pushed himself up on his good arm and propped the pillows up so that he wasn't facing the ceiling. The men had been probably waiting out their for him to wake up, that made Tony considerably uncomfortable.

"Stark," that was the tall blonde one with short hair. Tony grimaced at the tone of his voice, it sounded half relieved and half exasperated, which was an incredibly odd combination,

"Hey," he said cautiously, eyeing them warily. He didn't trust them and he felt no reason why he should.

The shorter dark hair man stepped in front of blondie,

"While you were out, we did a few tests on you too see what Hydra had done. We also fixed up the visible injuries you had when you arrived. However..." the dark haired man frowned at a clipboard he held in his hand, something Tony had totally overlooked when he first saw the men, when the dark haired man didn't finish, the third man - who was dressed in a impeccable suit - continued, "Hydra implanted a small metal plate in between your hippocampus ('the part of the brain that is responsible for memory' supplied Tony's brain) and your brainstem, it is cutting off your brains ability to supply you with some off your memories. Really, you should be dead, there is no way you could have survived that procedure,"

Tony nodded, that would explain alot. It also meant he probably did know all of these people, and Hydra was forcing him to repress the memories. It didn't make much sense to him. The way he is completely uncomfortable with them all, probably means that there memories would have been more of a torture then the comfort Hydra probably thought they would be for him.

The three men were looking at him expectantly,

"What?" He asked. He felt no need to be polite.

"Can you tell us what memories you are missing," Tony stared at them, he doubted that they thought he didn't recognise them, and the thought of telling them something they could very well use against him, but he also didn't have much of a choice. He was in their base, with their men. One thing Tony had learnt during his stint at Hydra was: if the information wasn't too revealing then there was no point the risk of more torture.

Tony sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he had thought about safety, he had definitely not been thinking about more interrogation and stress. It turned out that Tony didn't need to answer. The suit guy, noticing his distress, ushered the other two out of the room. The man was about to leave as well, but turned to him saying,

"Doctor Strange will be coming over to discuss the safest way to remove the plate from your brain," before turning on his heels and existing the room. Leaving Tony wandering who the hell Doctor Strange was, and if Doctor Strange was his real name.

* * *

I actually wrote this about a month ago, but I forgot to post it here. I'm alot more active on ao3 but I will try to remember to post on here too.


	4. Chapter 4

As it turns out, Doctor Strange was indeed his real name. He came over later that day to discuss the safest way to extract the plate. So far he was the only person who Tony had meet since his escape who seemed to only know him by reputation. For some reason Tony found himself being able to relax more with this man, probably because he didn't have any shady memories connected to him. However, Tony determined that his reputation wasn't exactly stellar by the way Strange acted around him. Nonetheless, that didn't deter Tony being oddly comfortable around him. It didn't help that the Doctor had no idea how to get the plate out of his head. Apparently, his body would not be able to survive the stress off having another brain operation only a couple of months after the first one. That wasn't exactly comforting news but Doctor Strange had asured him that with all the technology avaliable there would be away. Yet here Tony was, half an hour later, alone in his room with no feasible way of getting his memories back.

He was bored. He had only been alone for 30 minutes yet he had nothing to do. No one had seemed to consider the possibility that he would get bored, so there wasn't even a book in the room. So that left Tony with nothing so with a sigh he lent against the white pillows on his white bed in tge white room and began to think. If no one else could think of a way to remove it safely without operating then he would. Tony may not remember much but he was a genius, or at least that's what the Hydra goons always said. Tony sat up straighter, the reality of the situation finally hit him. He had escaped. No longer would he be treated like a human experiment, degraded and dehumanised through torture. Tony's eyes began to water slightly as the pure relief at leaving swept through him, he slumped against his pillows and smiled at the ceiling. No more needling or prodding. Thinking of needles, that gave him an idea.

Tony knew from the scans that they had done when he was unconscious (something he was not happy they had done without his consent) that the plate was made from a type of metal related closely with Rubidium minus the fact that it reacted with moisture. Now Rubidium was a very soft malleable metal which had been placed so that it hugged closely to his hippocampus and could move slightly so to not accidently sever his brain stem (which is of course fatal), another thing about Rubidium is that it has a low melting point at only 102.7F ( 39.3C). Considering that it hadn't melted yet, Tony assumed he had an average brain tempreture of between 92.12F (33.4C) to below 102.7F, he knew that his brain could take up to around 104F (40C) before there would be visible signs of brain damage. So if he could heat up the plate to just above its melting point, then use a syringe or some form like that he could extract it. Of course it would be incredible dangerous, might not even work, and Tony would end up with metal in other parts of his brain, but honestly? Tony was prepared for the worst. He quickly hit the call button besides his bed and waited for company.

"-and that's how I think we could get it out," concluded Tony. Doctor Strange was looking very pensive, thinking deeply about the possibility of this working,

"If we gently insert a needle between your cerebellum and your cerebral cortex it would get us to the hippocampus and the plate," mused Strange, stroking his goatee in thought (though it just made him look like a weird cartoon villain in Tony's mind, he barely resisted a snigger), " and with resent breakthroughs in nanoscience it could be possible to use a vaccum of sorts to siphon the metal out of your head. It would be an incredibly delicate procedure and you would need someone with very stable hands," oddly enough, Strange sounded very bitter at that last bit, and Tony noticed him folding his hands together, they were shaking. Tomy pulled his eyes way from the Doctors hands before he was caught and nodded,

"The only thing I am stuck on is how to heat up my brain enough for the metal to actually melt," Strange frowned,

"Using nanotechnology, we could use a small drone to place a small device on the plate that would steadily increase the tempreture. Using that device we would be able to control the tempreture and make sure it doesn't kill you," Tony nodded, that was a great idea actually. Seeing Tony's confermation, the Doctor swiftly got up, "I will prepare the nessesery conditions," before he left, leaving Tony once again, alone.

* * *

I don't like this chapter much, but it's all I've got.


End file.
